Coffin Lid fact file
Age: 3,000 years old/late 11th or early 10th
century BC.
Dynasty/Period: Third Intermediate Period/Early
21st Dynasty.
Dimensions: Length 179cm/Width 62cm/Depth
30cm.
Material: Wood, plastered and painted with resin
varnish.
Place of production: Thebes, Ancient Egypt.
Association: This important priestess may have
been the grandmother of Iufenamun.
Click on the images below to get a closer look at
Tjentwerethequa's coffin lid.
Description: This coffin lid is
human-shaped, decorated with a multi-coloured scheme based on
red on a yellow background, with red, green and blue-green
pigment and a yellow varnish. The deceased is shown wearing a
wig covering the ears and the face is painted yellow. Directly
below, the breasts are decorated with multi-coloured rosettes.
A broad collar with hawk-headed ends covers much of the
upper torso, with different types of decoration placed on
top. There is a pair of crossed arms with heavily ornamented
bracelets on each. The hands are painted yellow with red,
green and blue stars.
Four bands of text run across the lid and along the
edges of the toes to the edge of the lid, while a further pair
of bands run vertically from the toes along the top of
the feet.
Underneath the feet is a figure of the goddess Nephthys
kneeling on a gold-sign. An ankh (symbolising
life) hangs from each outstretched arm, with the sky-sign
above her and symbols of the 'west' on either side.